Photo: Anna Frodesiak · Public domainHazards in Morin-Heights: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 10% of tested homes
Little of the land around Morin-Heights has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.002% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.069 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Morin-Heights grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Morin-Heights’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Morin-Heights: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Morin-Heights faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Morin-Heights grades C for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Morin-Heights’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #158 of 507 in Quebec and #2,107 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 78 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Morin-Heights: 0.3% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Morin-Heights’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Morin-Heights fire takes 0.002% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Morin-Heights: 34% within 5 km and 29% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Quebec · highest of 513
Morin-Heights ranks 35th of the 513 towns in Quebec for burn rate, at 0.002% a year; Mistissini leads with 0.31%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Morin-Heights reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% rank higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Morin-Heights
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Morin-Heights: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Morin-Heights; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, and Morin-Heights has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Morin-Heights.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
High seismic risk in Morin-Heights: $0.069 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Morin-Heights’ $0.069 is about 2.3 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Morin-Heights expects less, $0.069, and La Pocatière the most, $0.48.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Morin-Heights sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 28% are higher.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Morin-Heights’ figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
10% of homes tested around Morin-Heights are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Laurentides health region
Morin-Heights’ area, at 10%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Morin-Heights (10%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 1.3% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Morin-Heights, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go higher.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
The survey sampled homes around Morin-Heights; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Morin-Heights
Alerts for Morin-Heights come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Fire danger and active fires near Morin-Heights are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Morin-Heights’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morin-Heights | Low | $0.069 | 10% | None listed |
| Saint-Sauveur 12,112 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.094 | 10% | None listed |
| Piedmont 3,667 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.072 | 10% | None listed |
| Mille-Isles 1,886 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.10 | 10% | None listed |
| Sainte-Adèle 15,216 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.072 | 10% | Yes |
| Sainte-Anne-des-Lacs 4,080 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.10 | 10% | None listed |
| Saint-Adolphe-d'Howard 3,974 · 12 km | Low | $0.076 | 10% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Morin-Heights (low); Saint-Sauveur comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Morin-Heights faces
Practical steps for Morin-Heights’ hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Morin-Heights until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Morin-Heights’ homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Morin-Heights without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Morin-Heights’.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Morin-Heights
How big is the earthquake risk in Morin-Heights?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Morin-Heights’ buildings lose $0.069 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Morin-Heights flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Morin-Heights (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Morin-Heights?
10% of the 78 homes Health Canada tested around Morin-Heights topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Morin-Heights at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Morin-Heights’ band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Morin-Heights’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Morin-Heights C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).